India's First 'Cable-Stayed' Anji Khad Railway Bridge Nearing Completion

Expediting the completion process, all 96 cables are fully installed in the Anji Khad cable-stayed rail bridge, the first such bridge in Indian Railways, on Wednesday (26 April).

A crucial bridge in the Kashmir rail link project, cables were installed in a record time period of 11 months from June 2022 to April 2023 despite constraints.

An engineering marvel, the Anji Khad cable-stayed bridge built in extreme geographical conditions is expected to be completed in May 2023.

Connecting Katra to Reasi in Jammu and Kashmir on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line project, the first cable-stayed rail bridge in Indian Railways.

The bridge has a single line railway track and a 3.75 m wide service road.

The asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge crosses the deep gorges of Anji river, a tributary of river Chenab. The bridge connects tunnel T2 on the Katra side and tunnel T3 on the Reasi side.

The total length of the bridge is 725 m which includes a 473 m long asymmetric cable-stayed bridge balanced on the axis of a central pylon of 193 m from the top of foundation, standing at a height of 331 m above the river bed.

The cable stay bridge has 290 m span on the north side (Katra side) while 183 m span on the south side (Reasi side).

The strands for this bridge are specifically designed with 15.7 mm diameter and have three layers of protection.

The cable's length ranges between a minimum of 80 m up to 295 m as a maximum. The stay cables are composed of 31, 37 or 43 strands.

Anji cable stay bridge is designed with a total of 96 cables which means 48 cables each on lateral and central spans.

The cables totally weigh 848.7 MT and the total length of cable strands involved is 653 km.

As of now 44 segments out of total 47 segments have been launched which required support of stay cables. Now, balance three segments shall be launched without stay cables as per design.